


Back to the Beginning

by Leahelisabeth (fortheloveofcamelot)



Series: Back to the Beginning [1]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Fake Marriage, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Temporary Character Death, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2018-11-04
Packaged: 2019-08-17 11:40:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16515746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fortheloveofcamelot/pseuds/Leahelisabeth
Summary: "Are you sure this is going to work?” Nicky asked nervously, staring into the swirling vortex in Erik’s lab.“I mean, there is always an element of risk, you know that,” Erik explained again.  “But I’ve checked and rechecked everything a dozen times and you know I wouldn’t let you do this if I wasn’t sure.  Besides, you’re doing this for a good reason.”Nicky sighed, “I know.”  Because he shouldn’t have found out that Andrew existed by being called to identify a body in a morgue, and he shouldn’t have had to watch Aaron lose his will to live and succumb to an overdose mere days later.  “They deserve a family who will protect them, who will love them and take care of them.”“And so do you,” said Erik.The Minyard twins never got their second chance. Nicky goes back to try again.





	Back to the Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> This is for the first day of Twinyards Appreciation Week, Andrew and Aaron and birthdays. This first part ended up a little Nicky heavy but I've got two more parts planned for later in the week.

“Are you sure this is going to work?” Nicky asked nervously, staring into the swirling vortex in Erik’s lab.

“I mean, there is always an element of risk, you know that,” Erik explained again. “But I’ve checked and rechecked everything a dozen times and you know I wouldn’t let you do this if I wasn’t sure. Besides, you’re doing this for a good reason.”

Nicky sighed, “I know.” Because he shouldn’t have found out that Andrew existed by being called to identify a body in a morgue, and he shouldn’t have had to watch Aaron lose his will to live and succumb to an overdose mere days later. “They deserve a family who will protect them, who will love them and take care of them.”

“And so do you,” said Erik.

“Yes,” Nicky nodded, although with less conviction. “I’ll miss you.”

“You know I can’t come with you,” Erik said. “Someone has to close this wormhole on this side, otherwise it will expand and destroy the world as we know it.”

Nicky laughed through tears. “I guess that’s a good reason to stay behind.”

“But I’ll keep looking, as long as it takes. I’ll come back to you as soon as I know how,” Erik promised. 

Nicky nodded, unable to speak through the lump in his throat. He reached out for Erik and Erik came willingly into his arms. They kissed and Nicky desperately hoped it wasn’t for the last time.

“I’ll wait for you,” Erik promised.

“I’ll be an old man by then,” Nicky protested.

“I always did love a silver fox,” Erik winked.

Nicky buried his face in Erik’s shoulder. “I love you,” he whispered into the shoulder of Erik’s lab coat.

“I love you too,” Erik said, squeezing Nicky tight.

They stepped apart and a soft knock came at the door. “Are we ready?” 

Nicky turned to see Renee peeking her head around the door. He almost didn’t recognize her, the bleached blonde with rainbow highlights was now a very sensible brunette. Her clothes were also much more subdued than he was used to. Gone were the bright blocky patterns and DIY upcycled tees, replaced with a staid vintage pantsuit. The only thing the same was the delicate cross necklace she never took off.

“Almost,” Erik said. He held out a velvet box and opened it to reveal two simple matching wedding bands.

“I definitely never thought I would end up in a heterosexual marriage,” Nicky joked.

“Me neither,” Renee said softly, but she picked up her ring anyway and slipped it on her left hand.

Nicky moved to do the same but Erik stopped him. “Look inside,” he said.

Nicky did and felt the tears pricking once more. The inscription inside read, “love for all time” and had today’s date.

“You’re going back to a time before it would be legal for us to marry but this is my promise to you that we will find each other again and someday, I will be slipping this ring on your finger for real,” Erik slipped the ring on Nicky’s finger and kissed it gently.

Nicky kissed him one last time before he and Renee moved to stand in front of the vortex. He took a deep breath and stepped forward.

Nicky remembers very little of the trip. There is confusion, a weird high-pitched humming noise, and the smell of static in a thunderstorm, and then he is vomiting on the pavement and Renee is rubbing his back and murmuring soothing words.

“How are you okay?” he finally groaned as he looked up to see his friend, not a single hair out of place.

“You were a little ahead of me. I think you caught all the turbulence,” Renee said. “Are you alright?”

“I never want to eat again, but I should be fine,” Nicky said, allowing himself to lean into her side.

“We should hurry. First things first, we should get a hotel room so we have a number where we can be reached. Tilda will go into labour in less than five hours and we have to convince her to sign these papers before then,” Renee said, pulling the folder out of her jacket where she had held it, bundled up tight through their journey through time. “Is there any chance we’ll run into your younger self?”

“No, I didn’t meet Aaron until he was already three months old. If we handle everything before the birth, we won’t run into Luther either. Tilda doesn’t go to him until after she gets out of the hospital,” Nicky said, trying to recall every detail his father had ever mentioned about the birth of his cousins.

“It says here we should be able to meet up with her at the local Sears. Is that right?” Renee asked.

“Yes, she worked right up until she went into labour, The manager there would sometimes let her sleep in his office. He had a thing for pregnant women,” Nicky said with a shudder.

Renee nodded and placed the folder back inside the special pocket in her coat. “No time like the present...well...you know what I mean.”

Nicky laughed, forgetting for a moment how easily everything could still go wrong.

* * *

“Excuse me, are you Tilda?” Renee asked with her best disarming smile.

She could have been no one else. She had Aaron’s hazel eyes and thin lips and she was short and stick thin every except her massive, swollen belly. She put on a customer service smile that was fooling no one and nodded. “What can I do for you?”

“I know this is rather unorthodox,” Renee continued, “but we were given your name by Planned Parenthood…”

“I thought they weren’t supposed to give that information out,” Tilda said, alarmed and already backing away.

“They’re not,” Nicky stepped in. “We offered them quite a large sum of money.”

At the mention of money, Tilda stopped retreating.

“My wife and I are unable to have children and we were hoping to adopt but we haven’t been having much luck through regular channels and it was suggested we try a private adoption. You had expressed interest in giving your baby up for adoption and we wanted to know if you had found a family for them yet,” Nicky explained hurriedly.

“No,” Tilda said. “Why can’t you adopt normally? Is it a money thing?”

“No, money is no object,” Renee said smoothly. “We’ve just been out of the country for several years and haven’t had a fixed address for a while. They would want us to live here for at least three years before we could apply and then who knows how long the actual adoption process would take after that. We were hoping to speed up the process. We will, of course, pay all your medical bills for the birth and compensate you generously for your time.”

“I’m having twins. Are you looking for one baby or two?” Tilda asked.

“Naturally, we would take both of them,” Nicky said. “We have no intention of separating siblings.”

Tilda nodded. “You have cash?”

“We have $2000 on us right now and more available later,” Renee said.

“I’ll take the two grand right now,” Tilda said, hand outstretched.

“If you sign the papers now,” Renee said, pulling those out first.

Tilda scanned them quickly and signed her name at the bottom of the page. “Anything else?” she asked.

“Yes,” Nicky said, handing her a card. “Get the hospital to call this number when you arrive. We would like to be present at the birth.”

Tilda shoved it in her pocket and held her hand out impatiently for the cash. Nicky handed it to her in an envelope. He was still hesitant to part with it, worried she was going to run off and spend it on drugs and die in some alleyway.

“Don’t worry,” Renee said. “I’m going to follow her until she goes to the hospital. You’re going to go wait in the hotel room for the call.”

“There’s so much to do. We don’t have a house to take them to. You and I don’t have jobs. How are we supposed to take care of two newborns?” Nicky panicked.

“First, we don’t need to find a house. We’re going to stay in that hotel room for now. We’re not staying in Columbia. There’s too much of a chance we’ll run into someone from your life. And we don’t have to worry about money. Erik covered that too.” She pulled out another folder, this one full of information about the stock exchange and a list of outcomes for major sporting events.

Nicky’s eyes went wide. “Holy shit, we’re going to be rich!”

“We’re not going to be stupid. We’ll win a few things when we need it. We’ll do modestly well with investments, enough to live comfortably and to pay for the twins education. We don’t want to draw attention to ourselves or influence too much of the past. The point is to fix these small injustices and these alone,” Renee stroked Nicky’s cheek. He leaned gratefully into the contact. 

“I should go,” Renee said. “Just go back to the hotel, watch some 80’s TV. I’ve got everything else.”

“Thanks, Renee, whatever happens, I’m so glad I’m not doing this alone,” Nicky said, those pesky tears once again threatening to make a reappearance.

“Aaron was like a brother to me. It kills me what happened to him. I’m just happy to have the chance to change his life for real,” Renee smiled. “Now go. I’ll meet you at the hospital.”

* * *

The birth was messy, loud, and confusing. It was a terrifying time for Nicky to see his first...and let’s be real, his only vagina. And as much as he wanted to hate Tilda for her role in everything that had happened to his cousins, she was still his aunt and he wondered how things might have gone if his grandfather hadn’t forced her out of the family when she first began to cry out for help.

He probably would have run without Renee’s steady presence at his side. She slid her hand in his and squeezed tight. It was an instant and it was forever but after hours in the hospital, Tilda’s screams were replaced by the squeaky cries of newborns and his arms were full of two tiny newborns and Nicky was crying for a different reason.

They were perfectly healthy, though tiny. They were about four weeks early but their lungs were fully developed and both took naturally to eating with a bottle. Nicky had a momentary panic when it came time to officially name them. What if he screwed it all up and gave them the wrong name from the beginning? But the birthmark in Aaron’s armpit was there once again and so he signed the papers and made it official: Andrew Joseph Walker and Aaron Michael Walker, born at 5:48 and 5:53 pm, November 4, 1985, legally adopted sons of Nicholas and Renee Walker. 

By late morning on November 5, Nicky and Renee walked out of the hospital, each with a twin in their arms, and Nicky took his first full breath. No one ran after them out the door screaming that the adoption papers were forged or their identification was fake. Tilda hadn’t changed her mind and asked for her babies back. Nicky’s father hadn’t shown up, talking about the resemblance between the man adopting his nephews and his own three year old son.

They walked back to their hotel, placed the babies down on the bed and just stared at them. Nicky had been so worried about getting them from Tilda that he had no idea what to do next. Aaron slept contentedly but Andrew’s eyes were open and he stared at Nicky with a gaze that seemed much too old.

Andrew wasn’t crying so Nicky didn’t pick him up. But he did sit beside him on the bed and with one finger, he lightly traced Andrew’s face, the cheekbones, the bridge of his nose. Andrew struggled to keep his eyes open but after a few minutes, he too succumbed to sleep.

“It’s time to make a plan of action,” Renee said, taking off her coat and emptying the numerous pockets.

“I didn’t know Erik sent so much,” Nicky said. 

“He didn’t want to worry you,” Renee said. “But he sent everything he thought we might need. He couldn’t make us ID but I have contact addresses for places we can get them. I have money from before this year that was supposed to have been recycled. I have a list of cities with decent living costs and of course, the stock and gaming information. I took the liberty of placing a couple bets this afternoon so that should buy us a car and baby seats so we can get out of the city and a couple nights in a hotel until we can win the lottery and buy a house.”

“Thank you, Renee,” Nicky said. “Seriously. I don’t know how I would have done this without you.”

“Don’t thank me,” Renee said. “I should have been able to do something sooner. I knew Aaron was unhappy at home. I suspected the abuse but I didn’t have proof. Maybe if I had acted sooner, if I had figured out he was using and found a way to get him clean, I could have saved his life.”

“Don’t blame yourself,” Nicky placed his hand on her shoulder. “You were just his afterschool Exy coach. He had teachers and friends in his life. He had Luther. All of them did nothing. At least you are helping him now. And besides, Andrew deserves better too.”

“You never told me what happened to Andrew. I asked Erik and he wouldn’t say anything, said it was up to you if you wanted to share,” Renee asked.

Nicky looked over at Andrew again. His little hand had wormed its way out of the blankets and had latched onto the fabric at Aaron’s shoulder and he wanted to throw up thinking about the future they were disrupting. “He was put in the system with Aaron. But Tilda reconsidered and took Aaron back. Andrew was left bouncing between foster home and group home for most of his childhood. When he was in his teens, he was...assaulted by his foster brother. We don’t know how long it was going on but eventually...Drake snapped and went too far. Andrew was losing too much blood and Drake panicked and dumped him in a park and no one found him until it was already too late. I never would have known about it if they didn’t find Aaron’s name in the system first. Tilda was on a bender and no one could reach her. Aaron was hiding out until it was over so the task of identifying the body came to Luther. He sent me.”

“Oh god,” Renee said, clutching the cross at her neck.

“We were already making funeral arrangements when Aaron showed up again, very surprised to find out he had somehow been declared dead. But in the end it worked out because Aaron’s overdose took him less than 24 hours later and the funeral was for both of them,” Nicky laughed bitterly.

“Nicky, I'm so sorry you had to deal with this. I know I've tried to be there for you since it happened..." Renee trailed off. 

“I'm not sorry. If I hadn't been alone, I wouldn't have been looking for crazier and crazier solutions. I probably wouldn't have found Erik online and spent the last two years figuring out how to get here, it's like you always say..." Nicky smiled at his friend. 

“Everything happens for a reason," Renee finished. 

Aaron chose that moment to start screaming and their quiet moment was broken. Andrew was awake too. He wasn't crying but his lower lip pouted and his free hand flailed until it landed on Aaron's face. 

Nicky shot up to prepare a bottle and Renee moved toward the bed. Aaron's cries quieted and Nicky assumed Renee had picked him up to soothe him but when he turned back to the bed, the twin boys still lay next to each other, Aaron contentedly sucking on Andrew's fist. 

And Nicky thought he had cried enough for the day. “Look at them," he wept. “They grew up apart and nobody ever really took care of them." 

"Nicky," Renee said, taking the bottle from him and picking up Aaron to feed. “We've made a difference already." 

Now that Aaron was being fed, Andrew started his own squeaky cry. Nicky made another bottle and picked up his cousin. Andrew ate, eyes locked on Nicky's face as he sucked on the bottle. 

“You're right," he said, answering Renee but speaking to Andrew. “I love them. I am going to take care of them. They're going to have a second chance to be happy." It was probably gas from how quickly he was drinking down his bottle, but just for an instant, Nicky swore Andrew smiled.


End file.
